SUICIDES, house repossessions and family break-ups have rocked Longbridge since the closure of MG Rover, says the campaigner made an MBE for her efforts.

SUICIDES, house repossessions and family break-ups have rocked Longbridge since the closure of MG Rover, says the campaigner made an MBE for her efforts.

Gemma Cartwright, wife of an ex-Rover worker whose community work saw her recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, said the area was still grieving over the loss of the car factory in 2005.

And she called for the Phoenix Four to finally honour their pledges to provide payouts from the Employee Trust Fund as legal wrangles continue to block the process.

Gemma, who chairs the Rover Community Action Trust, is now pressing for David Cameron and Nick Clegg to step in and resolve the payouts standstill.

“I want to see a meeting with Cameron, Clegg and the Phoenix Four to put an end to this. People’s expectations are being raised all the time – it’s an absolute disgrace.

“There have been quite a few suicides, around 12 to 15. There have been house repossessions and family break-ups over this, and there needs to be some sort of closure.

“People thought they would be getting £5,000 to £6,000 each – we have to do a reality check on this. It has taken five and a half years and we need to find out what is going on.

“People are furious about this. The ones who have got full-time jobs are OK but what about the others? What about people doing 15 hours a week stacking shelves in supermarkets?

“Some have been made redundant again and again. My husband Andrew has been made redundant four times since – he has a lot of friends on temporary contracts. And it’s more than just a financial issue. There’s a big grieving process – I know of people who would walk back through the gates of Rover tomorrow if it were to re-open.”

Ex-workers pinning their hopes on trust fund cash were rocked this week when Business Secretary Vince Cable said he was unable to intervene in the row between the Phoenix Four and HBOS which is blocking the payments.